1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a cryptographic key management scheme, and more particularly relates to a method of creating and manipulating encryption keys without risking the security of the key.
2. Description of the Prior Art
All cryptographic techniques, whether used for encryption or digital signatures depend upon cryptographic keys. Cryptographic key management systems are a crucial aspect of providing security. Typical key management systems include key generation policies, key distribution policies and key termination policies. Cryptographic key management schemes are built on commonly used lower level concepts, such as key wrapping techniques. These techniques vary with the type of cryptographic algorithm used and are vast in numbers. However, key management systems are unique to the developer and vary substantially depending on the type of key used and level of security required.
The key management scheme allows for efficient access to all keys so that the cryptographic algorithms can run as fast as possible and be as compact as possible, with little secure tradeoffs as possible.